this photo above was one of the first that I took when Ryan was helping position him… and it stood out to me, and I love that his hands are a part of the picture. (mental note to take more hand pictures – but not the ones with hearts – in the future)

I love that I get to share this with everyone. I’ve been wanting to incorporate film into a session and Mike and Nikki gave me the perfect opportunity when they brought along their twin lens reflex for their engagement shoot. You might not know this about me, but when I studied photography in college I only used film for my work (and I’ll admit digital was just really taking over the scene) so I was fairly resistant to switching over to digital. When I finally made the switch it was a slippery slope and of course with the ease of digital and the complexities of the darkroom I haven’t really gone back. Now I’m looking forward to finding ways to incorporate film back into some sessions, and this was a great place to start.

The tri-x 120 film that was used for these images was sent off to a lab, developed and printed as proofs. I love the different approach film photography brings; the fact that you don’t do any editing on your computer, that the anticipation builds as you wait for the film to return, and the slower pace to which you approach image making. This approach is different from the fast paced impulsive image making process that has become the trademark of digital photography, but I think there are things to learn from both mediums. Experience in both has only made me a better photographer.

Without further ado I invite you to look through a few of the images captured on film. We had one roll, which meant 10 square images and only a few to share with you… which is all part of the romance of film that is coming back and sweeping people off their feet.

It takes gorgeous photos. I can’t help but share this image from Chris + Kate’s wedding. The weather wasn’t perfect, but then again if it wasn’t windy we wouldn’t have had an image quite like this. So really, the weather was perfect.

Just so you could see what it looked like today I brought my camera out on a little family walk (Matt, Lexi + I) for some snapshots. Snapshots. I like that word because there’s something very simple and real about it… and that’s pretty much how these photos are. I had multiple layers on myself and a target plastic bag wrapped around the camera – it mostly kept the snow out, but it was still a challenge. To try and keep things simple, I started in aperture priority but of course the camera could not handle all of the white snow and was trying to make it gray. Gray? yes. Confused? Let me explain. To calculate the exposure for an image all cameras have light meters inside of them that measure how bright (or dark) scenes are. Cameras average the light in a scene so that it is middle (or appx. 18%) gray. While this usually works pretty well, it doesn’t in situations like the one I encountered today, where the scene is almost all white. For a better explanation, read this post I found.

To shorten the story, as I fumbled with my camera settings while trying to keep my hood on and the camera safe within the plastic bag (I’m pretty low tech in that way, I know) I ended up incorrectly exposing most of my pictures. When I got home they were much too dark, and therefore, very snapshot worthy. I did edit them to increase the exposure (which I think completely falls in the realm of acceptable editing – back in my darkroom days there were many dodge +burn sessions) and… this is what I came up with. I had the hood from my 135mm lens on my 50mm which is why you see so much vignetting on the images (I didn’t add that in on the corners). Even though I these didn’t come out perfectly, I like their graphic quality and thought I’d share them with you.

It really has been crazy here – if you’re living through it, I hope you’re enjoying it as much as I am. There’s something about the snow that is just so much fun. It makes you feel like a kid since it transforms the world so much. For those of you in the north who have yet to have a snow day… I’m sorry! Truely I am. I would invite you down here if I trusted Virginia drivers in this weather, but I don’t.